Honolulu, HI

What the Data Says About HNL

Honolulu, HI in Honolulu, Hawaii handled 631,778 flights in the Bureau of Transportation Statistics dataset between 2020 and 2025, posting a 84.6% on-time departure rate. Of those flights, 97,030 experienced delays, 4,006 were cancelled, and 365 were diverted. The cancellation rate works out to 0.63%, the diversion rate to 0.06%, and the average delay when departures run late is 62.1 minutes. These figures are the baseline for comparing HNL against other airports in the same state and nationally.

Breaking down what drives delays at HNL, Carrier leads the pack. Carrier accounts for 53.5% of total delay minutes, followed by Late Aircraft at 37.3% and NAS (National Aviation System) at 7.0%. Weather contributes 1.6% of delay minutes at this airport, while security holds the smallest share at 0.5%. Travelers often overestimate the weather share; the BTS categorization shows late-arriving aircraft and carrier operations as the larger contributors.

Seasonally, September runs the cleanest at HNL with a 95.5% on-time rate, while December is the roughest at 91% — a 5-point swing between best and worst month. Volume peaks in December, when average flights hit 9,402. The busiest route from HNL is to OGG (Kahului), with 60,102 flights at a 86.7% on-time rate. Combine these numbers — 84.6% on-time, 62.1-minute average delay, 0.63% cancellation rate — and you have a concrete picture of departure reliability at Honolulu, HI.